Craig Bellamy's squad Ready to Face Anyone in World Cup Playoff Draw

The team's focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were asking recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.

"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be difficult.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualifying campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second spot in Group F in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.